He's A Magic Man
by ScapeArtist
Summary: Emma loses something precious to her and finds it in the most unlikely of places while she and Killian face a threat neither of them is prepared for.


**A/N: This is a birthday fic for a dear friend who wanted to know what would happen if Killian had Emma's magic for a short time. This was my take on the question. The title is from Heart's song of the same title. More notes at the end.**

* * *

><p>Regina was surprised to see her breath curling out in soft clouds from her mouth. She hadn't noticed the weather turning colder. She thought the chill was just a side effect of the emptiness she'd been feeling since backing off from her relationship with Robin in light of his new…circumstances. Tonight had been particularly difficult for her as she'd spent the last hour running errands and into Robin and his wife at practically every turn while he was obviously trying to get her acclimated to Storybrooke.<p>

Their last run-in had been at Granny's while picking up takeout for her and Henry on her way to get him at Snow's. She'd been waiting to pay for their dinner when she felt a tug on the hem of her coat, and when she looked down to see what it was caught on, there was Roland and his dimples smiling up at her. Before she could even reach out to him, ruffle his curls as she'd taken to doing in the time they'd spent together, his mother called him to her side, leaving Regina standing there looking and feeling quite heartbroken all over again. She'd hastily grabbed her food and left, head held high and defensive retort stuffed down deep, then had the misfortune to immediately chance upon Ms. Swan and her smitten pirate rounding the corner to the alleyway next to the diner, hand-in-hand.

Regina rolled her eyes at the two of them—barely able to contain themselves, stopping every half step to lock lips. Bile threatened to rise up into her throat from her clenched stomach and she could feel resentment beginning to gather like a storm in her chest and fan out into her limbs as she thought of how she was being denied the same stolen moments with Robin because of Ms. Swan's newfound need to take her title seriously. Regina gritted her teeth and took a couple of shallow breaths to try to collect herself, but could not stop the buzzing in her ears or the irritation at having witnessed their tryst.

_Look at them. Sneaking around like a couple of horny adolescents. Hardly conduct befitting __the_ Savior. _Well, if they are going to play hide the salami, they are going to get more than they bargained for._ With a twist of her fingers echoing the twitch of her lips, Regina snapped her fingers just as Emma touched her lips to Hook's. A soft glow grew and shifted from Emma into Hook and Regina walked away with a smug smile. She could hide things too.

~.~

The afternoon rang clear — not a cloud in the sky, the sun shining warmly upon the town, and a southeasterly wind just brisk enough to take the edge off the midday heat. A perfect day to sail, Killian thought, if he'd only had the proper vessel at his disposal. Not that there weren't a great many down at the docks, but none as fast or as seaworthy as the _Jolly Roger_, and none Emma would be keen on him "borrowing" on a regular basis. Landlocked though Killian was at the moment, he never thought for a second he would be separated from the waters he loved permanently…so long as he survived whatever demon crossed his path that week, if the pattern were to hold, of course. And if he didn't survive, well, then he'd be a part of the sea forever after, he just wouldn't relish it quite as much.

Just his luck, the pattern _did_ hold and something unseemly reared its frozen head in Storybrooke. There was no dwarvish harbinger to this latest threat, however, which had its benefits on the one hand (no shouting) and liabilities on the other (they were caught off-guard). No, this bit of doom snuck up on Killian and Emma as they returned toward town from grabbing dinner at the docks—a welcome change from the sometimes greasy fare at Granny's. He missed fresh seafood more than he realized, and the little shack he found selling the ocean's bounty in small, red-checkered paper trays prepared mussels in a way he was sure his former cook would have found impossible to replicate on his best day.

The rosy sunset they had been admiring and walking toward, darkened to a slate gray abruptly before the sun had finished setting, giving the sky the look of burning coal in some spots where the cloud cover had not quite solidified. As the wind picked up, the temperature dropped, and snow began swirling through the streets like waterspouts. The the lights throughout town began dimming then extinguishing as the roads and overhead wires began to freeze. Creeping ice crusted along the buildings, frosting everything in its path, inanimate or not.

"Killian…"

"Aye?"

"Is this change in weather normal?"

"No, love. I've not seen anything like it. Do you think it's Elsa?"

"I don't know. Maybe. I've never seen her change the weather like this, though. At least not yet. Think we can outrun it?"

Killian looked around. There were buildings they may have been able to hide in, but he had no clue how invasive the ice was, although he had his suspicions (completely). They were adjacent to the park with the docks close by still, but they would need to be quick about it if they were going to hide anywhere. He couldn't be certain they'd make it before being overwhelmed.

He gestured at the emptiness around them. "To where? And to what purpose? Everyone we know is in town, and all that's behind us is ocean. Can you stop it yourself or perhaps protect us? Keep us from being made into ice sculptures?"

"I can try."

Emma widened her stance for more stability and closed her eyes, concentrating on the approaching danger. Killian stood by her, watching the progress of the frost and ice in its collision course with the coast, and them. What Emma couldn't see, however, was that nothing was happening. Well, something was still happening and it was due to magic, but it wasn't Emma and she wasn't stopping anything. The longer they stood there, the faster they were being surrounded and the more concerned Killian became. He felt a pull inside of him, drawing him closer to Emma. He reached out and touched her gently on the arm.

Opening her eyes, finally, and seeing what dire straits she and Killian were in, Emma pointed at the road and cried out, "It's not working! My magic! I can't…it's not…_here_!" She looked down at her open hands, distraught and on the edge of frantic.

Snowflakes caught in Emma's eyelashes, and her hair was whipping behind her like a shredded windsock. Killian gave a passing thought to enfolding her in his arms and just letting the madness overrun them and hope there might be peace for them in the end. But the thought was fleeting because peace and Emma Swan did not fit together in this or any other land and he was satisfied with that. Life would never be dull with her, of that he was certain.

Killian slid his hand into hers, trying to calm them both. "Listen, Swan," he said, doing his best to keep the urgency from his tone as he backed them up a few more feet. Up and down the roads, street lamps began flickering and shorting out in blinding sprays and loud crackling of electricity. "I know you can do this. Take a deep breath and try again."

Nodding, Emma did as Killian suggested. She searched his face and found something there to bolster her courage, then held her hands in front of her, palms out. He saw the hard set of her eyes and watched her jaw clench as she tensed up, ready to release her magic. Killian gauged the distance between them and the now not-so-slow-moving ice. There wasn't much time and he was running out of ideas. The ground under his feet shook with a low rumble, and he observed more and more lights flicker and burst from all quarters of the town in front of them as his heart pounded with each explosion. He gripped Emma's shoulder to keep them both steady as the earth seemed to roil in time with his stomach. Storefront and car windows began shattering in time with each possible escape plan he considered rejected, but the swift and steady progress of the frost and ice persisted. Emma cried out in frustration.

On top of the oncoming ice storm, some_thing_, some _animal_, began moving toward them like a snake, slithering along the ice, swimming in and out of newly formed drifts like an eel in the sea. The creature was as white as the snow it traversed, and as one streetlamp flared and blew, Killian could see the light glint off its razor sharp fangs. His own eyes widened, and through the snow squall, he could make out cars rising off the ground, and could hear the boats at their back sway hard against their moorings. The cacophony almost drowned out Emma's gasp.

"Son of a bitch!" she said, awestruck. "What the hell is _that_?!" she yelled over the din of wind, boats, and cars dropping to the ground, rupturing their tires. She pointed into the intermittent darkness before them where a shadow could be seen sliding along the walls of the shops when there was any light at all.

"I believe, love, that is a Snow Wasset."

"A snow _who_sset?"

"Wasset. Carnivorous snow creature. One we may wish to avoid. Now, how's that magic coming?" he asked with a steadiness he did not remotely feel.

Emma looked at him, tears beginning to well in her eyes. "It's not."

They'd run out of room to retreat into — Killian and Emma were hemmed in on all sides with frost and ice and restless sea with the Wasset almost upon them.

Killian reached to draw his sword but came up empty. Not even a hollow scabbard at his side to throw. He hadn't acquired a replacement blade since they'd returned from their time travel adventures where he'd been…relieved of his thanks to the Dark One. Again. _No matter__._ He took a step in front of Emma. He glanced back at her, a wink and a grin his only response to her open-mouthed disbelief and protestation.

"Killian! What are you doing?!"

"Buying you some time, love. Third time's a charm, I hear. I'll distract the beast, you try again. I make excellent cannon fodder, remember?"

"But you're unarmed," she said reaching for her gun to hand to him.

He waved his hook at her. "On the contrary, darling, I'm always armed."

Not wanting her to try to stop him, Killian stepped out to the edge of the frost and waited. He could hear the growl of the Wasset clearly now, and felt it's fetid breath breaking through the cold front closing in around and them. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for the briefest of moments before the beast lunged.

Killian Jones had been in perilous positions before, and his imagination never failed to bring forward some of the most obscure trains of thought at the most inopportune times. Fantasies they were, visions from his boyhood before his father had abandoned him when he'd pretended to be Poseidon, ruler of the seas, sending krakens to ruin his enemies and commanding the waters to do his bidding. What he wouldn't give for a kraken right about now, he thought with a rueful laugh, to put between Emma and the Snow Wasset.

Killian raised his hook, ready to strike when he felt the change in air he'd come to recognize as magic reverberating through the area, through him, like a gently rolling wave. _Emma. She did it._

A thunderous roar, not unlike a portal opening up, sounded behind him and then he felt Emma clutching at his coat, pulling him against her. Before his eyes, the Wassat coiled in on itself, frightened by what loomed behind Killian.

"Jesus Christ, Killian! What did you _do_?!" Emma shouted.

Looking over his shoulder, Killian was astonished to see the kraken he'd envisioned — only entirely made of water — climbing out of the ocean, tipping boats on their side as if they were toys in a bath, and gliding toward them.

"_Bloody hell_…" he breathed, reaching behind him to pull Emma around to his side, trying to protect her from this new peril. He gaped at her. "I assure you, it wasn't me."

The fluid kraken reached out with its tentacles toward the fleeing Wasset and wrapped its slippery limbs around the beast and flipped it into the air and into its watery maw, dragging it back, deep into the ocean, shrieking the whole way. The water bubbled as if boiling and then settled into its regular shifting tide as if nothing had happened. Killian and Emma remained on the shore, unharmed.

"It was _you_!" she gasped. "You…you did _magic_," Emma continued in shock as she clutched Killian's arm tightly. "How did you…? Can you do it again? Can you melt the ice?"

Killian glanced at the frozen town, the ice having stopped merely a stone's toss from their feet, and then back at Emma. "Are you daft? I can't do magic," he said, completely incredulous to the idea.

The only magic he'd ever managed — if he wanted to call it that — was back in Neverland when he believed that his rum bottle would never empty. He was hardly a stranger to magic in his long life, but it wasn't anything he'd longed for or even hated. Magic existed and it had its purposes. It wasn't a part of him though. Wielding magic was Emma's forte, not his.

"You can, and you _did_. I saw it myself. The light show, the floating cars…that's magic out of control. I know where that comes from," she said, patting his chest over his heart."But that wasn't me summoning a fucking kraken. I wouldn't even know where to begin. You did that. _You_ saved us," she told him.

Killian thought he heard a thread of pride in her voice, but he was too astounded at this bit of information to feel any pride in himself. He couldn't process it—this notion that he had magic inside of him he'd never felt before—but thinking back on what was going through his mind right before the arrival of the kraken, he knew Emma was telling the truth.

"Swan. What the bloody hell is going on?" Killian asked.

She smiled and shook her head. "I'm not entirely sure. But if you melt the ice, we can go back into town and I think I know who to ask."

"Very well."

Killian closed his eyes again, pictured the town as it should be and felt magic ripple around them as before. Opening his eyes, he saw it worked. The ice was receding, leaving them a clear path into town. Even the ominous clouds had cleared to a deepening blue with the first stars just rising.

~.~

"What is it, Ms. Swan? You aren't due to pick up Henry until tomorrow," Regina said as she stood in the doorway of her mansion looking blandly at Emma.

Emma matched her tired expression and waved her hand between herself and Hook. "Care to explain how my magic got into him?"

"Whatever do you mean?" Regina asked, feigning innocence behind a rapacious smile.

"Cut the crap, Regina. You know damn well what I mean. How did it happen?_What did you do_?" Emma demanded.

"I hid it."

"It's not a goddamn Easter Egg, Regina. It's my magic. You can't just hide it without telling me. What, are you taking notes from Zelena now? We were almost _killed_!"

"Oh, please, you managed to avoid being freezer burned just fine, and you saved the town from the evil clutches of the Snow Queen in the process. Sounds like a normal day at the office for the Savior," she said.

Emma canted her hip and crossed her arms over her chest, eyes narrowed in Regina's direction. "You left me vulnerable without my knowledge or consent. You involved Hook without his."

Regina rose to her full height and put her hands on her hips and broke out her most imperious tone of voice. "You should be thanking me for showing you how vulnerable you really were before that frigid bitch got to you first. Next time you might not be so lucky! Consider this another lesson."

Emma rolled her eyes. "A lesson? Really? Sure you're not just being petty because you had a bad day or something?" Emma saw Regina bristle and knew she had hit a nerve. "You better hope I never learn this little trick of yours, Regina, because I will hide your magic where the sun don't shine and not even a dwarf's pick axe will help dislodge it."

Regina raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Fine," she said. Looking at Hook, she nodded at him. "But before we put things to rights, might I suggest a surprise visit to Mr. Gold's shop before he closes, Captain? End this day on a high note for all of us?"

Killian huffed and scratched behind his ear. "Don't think the thought hadn't crossed my mind, darling," he admitted under his breath.

Emma glared at him and smacked his arm, then wagged her finger near his face. "No…just…no."

"As you wish, love," Killian answered, punctuating it with a bow that felt sarcastic even though it looked quite elegant.

"Fix it, Regina. Whatever you did, undo it. Now."

"Kiss," Regina commanded waving her hands toward each other.

"Come again?" Killian asked, sounding as confused as Emma felt.

Regina put a hand on her hip and sighed. "When I hid your magic in the pirate, you were kissing. The counterspell works best if you are doing the same thing you were when I cast the first spell. So, kiss."

Emma glared at Regina. "You're really creepy, you know that, Regina?"

"Shut up and make it count, I need some time to move your magic back where it belongs."

"Seriously?" Emma muttered.

Facing Killian, she tried to ignore the fact that they were standing on Regina's front stoop with her presiding over the event like some twisted wedding ceremony. She focused all her attention on Killian who gave her a lopsided smile.

"It could be worse," he reminded her, practically reading her mind. "Your parents and Henry could be standing here too."

"You're killin' the mood, Hook. Now shut up and let's get this over with."

"Ever the romantic, eh, Swan?" he asked, stepping into her space and reaching out to pull her closer.

Emma leaned in the rest of the way, touching her lips to his, trying to remain somewhat distant from the situation, not wanting to participate in some peepshow, least of all for Regina. But Killian made it impossible for her to separate her feelings for him from the circumstances. When they kissed, Emma lost all sense of time and place, knowing only that they were _here_ and it was_now_ and everything else just dissolved around them.

Killian's hand tightened in her hair and he grunted softly, then Emma was flooded with a tingling sensation in her chest. Each prickle and shiver grew in number, until she felt like a swarm of bees had come home to its hive. When her magic returned after Zelena had forced it from her, she'd been too preoccupied to notice the sensation, but she wouldn't forget it now—that thrum of something more than a heartbeat inside her.

"Enough already. It's done," Regina said, the irritation heavy in her voice.

Pulling back just enough to breathe, Emma grabbed onto Killian's lapel with one hand. "I'll be the judge of that," she said to Regina. "Let's go home," she whispered to Killian who merely smiled and continued to look at her with a barely suppressed hunger. Waving her other hand, Emma "poofed" them into her bedroom in her new and currently empty apartment.

Killian looked around the room and sighed. "Not as impressive as a kraken, but not bad," he said.

"Tell me…" Emma said as she put her arms around his neck, "how did it feel to have magic?"

Tilting his head, Killian regarded her with conflict in his eyes. He rubbed her back lightly as answered truthfully, "Heady…frightening…dangerous." He gave her a half-shrug and looked off to the side. "I wasn't joking when I said I considered visiting the Crocodile. It's rare I have the element of surprise with him and an advantage—kraken at my beck and call aside. It's probably best you keep your magic with you. Although it's not lost on me what a boon it is to make certain things magically appear in times of…need."

Emma laughed, pecking him on the lips. "Mmm…you don't need magic for that," she murmured.

Brushing her hair over her shoulder, Killian continued to run his hand down her back to her hip. He gave her a gentle squeeze and rubbed against her, letting her feel exactly what had surfaced from his depths. "Perhaps not," he said.

* * *

><p><strong>Notes part 2: A Snow Wasset is a mythical creature. There's not much information on it, but you can still Google to find it. <strong>


End file.
